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Melo: Linsanity Forged Selfish Reputation

If Carmelo Anthony's public pleas to Knicks management to keep Jeremy Lin sounded to you like damage control, after he called Houston's three-year, $25.1 million offer to Lin "ridiculous," his latest comments aren't likely to change your mind.

"Let's be frank about it," Anthony told USA Today, when asked about his reputation as a selfish player. "When it comes to the Knicks, we're talking about one particular point in time. We're talking about the whole 'Linsanity' thing. That's when it started. That's when it started to escalate as far as people saying I was selfish. Lin came and we started winning games and then we started losing games, and they could only point to one thing, which is me, the leader of the team. They're not going to point to Amar'e. They're not going to point to (guard) Iman Shumpert. They're going to point to me. I accept that. It doesn't bother me."

Leaving aside the reality that it bothers Anthony sufficiently that he's identified in his mind exactly when and why it has happened, there's the stubborn reality to contend with: Jeremy Lin isn't remotely the reason that Carmelo Anthony is considered a selfish player, nor is Linsanity to blame for that reputation. Google makes this case pretty convincingly.

From February 4, 2012 through August 6, 2012, a Google News search for "Carmelo Anthony selfish" turns up 1,380 results. Most of these are recent, within the past few days, and come from Anthony's comments themselves. In the previous year, "Carmelo Anthony selfish" turns up just 33 results. From 2009-2011, there were 94 results in Google News, including results from The Washington Post, ESPN, NPR and the town that knew him best, the Denver Post. Anthony as selfish player was hardly a secret.

But the nature of Anthony's selfishness on the court, most often described as "ball stopping," was even more prevalent. Certainly, the Google News results for "Carmelo Anthony ball stopper" has spiked since Linsanity, with 3,970 articles including those words as the world tried to figure out whether and how well Anthony and Lin would mesh.

But in the calendar year leading up to Linsanity on February 4, 2011, the term was found in 73 articles. Here's Pro Basketball Prospectus 2011-12, for instance, describing Anthony's offensive game:

"Can Anthony be the best player on a championship team? The answer to that question is murky. At some point, heís going to have to show a consistent ability to lift the performance of his teammates, and he needs to do that with passing and by being less of a ball stopper."

Nor was this a particularly new diagnosis for the gifted passer who has never accumulated four assists per game in any season. The term turns up 102 results in 2010, 90 in 2009, 90 in 2008, 85 in 2007, 97 in 2006, 60 in 2005, 104 in 2004. Jeremy Lin celebrated his 16th birthday in 2004, and it is impossible to know what effect that had on Carmelo Anthony's reputation.

He's described in ESPN's "The Disposable Superstar" this way, as viewed back in 2008: "A.I., Anthony and Marcus Camby are all 'ball stoppers,' meaning they rarely pass."

Or as Jim Boeheim, his coach in 2003 when Anthony and Syracuse won the N.C.A.A. championship, a tournament in which Anthony led his team in shots taken and put up assist totals of 1, 2, 3, 1 and 1 in the first five games while taking the most shots on the team by far, put it, "He gets criticized for what he does, and thatís being an offensive machine. Iím tired of reading it. He doesnít play like LeBron James. He can pass, but heís a scorer. Heís an offensive force. Thatís what he does."

Anthony played like James in his final game for Boeheim, scoring 20, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out seven assists. He's quite capable of playing team basketball.

But he often chooses not to. And people have been noticing since around the time Jeremy Lin was going into junior high.

The season needs to hurry up and start cause all this in the media and this forum is getting really repetitive. Non stop bias battles of Lin vs. Melo or Melo vs. Other NBA Stars or Melo vs. Stat even Melo vs. Barkley. Lol omg.

I've never in my 20ish years of fallowing sports have I seen hate for your team's best player like I do here (and on a good team at that). It's funny how fans in other cities always support their team with all their faults. No team is perfect, no player is perfect but while he is here he is ours and he isn't going anywhere soon. Get over it.

The response to this will prob be BUT MELO IS LAZY blah blah blah. If Melo is "lazy" then you're prob worthless. We are headed into a full season with one of the best rosters we have had in YEARS and yet ppl still find something to be pissed about to the fact that every thread eventually turns into a shouting match.

I really could care less about Lin anymore. What happen happen now let's look at what we do have like Amar's dropping $100k to have Hakeem work with him for 2 weeks.

"He gets criticized for what he does, and that’s being an offensive machine. I’m tired of reading it. He doesn’t play like LeBron James. He can pass, but he’s a scorer. He’s an offensive force. That’s what he does."

Ps. Crazy8 this is not an attack on your post just some built up frustration from reading around this site. I just don't see much purpose in pointing fingers and saying "Look, he's selfish!" What changes by guys on a forum saying it over and over. It starts in practice with trust and with an older roster respect will go around to each locker. Same affect Tyson had will be increased with guys like Kidd, Felton, Camby and Thomas.

The season needs to hurry up and start cause all this in the media and this forum is getting really repetitive. Non stop bias battles of Lin vs. Melo or Melo vs. Other NBA Stars or Melo vs. Stat even Melo vs. Barkley. Lol omg.

I've never in my 20ish years of fallowing sports have I seen hate for your team's best player like I do here (and on a good team at that). It's funny how fans in other cities always support their team with all their faults. No team is perfect, no player is perfect but while he is here he is ours and he isn't going anywhere soon. Get over it.

The response to this will prob be BUT MELO IS LAZY blah blah blah. If Melo is "lazy" then you're prob worthless. We are headed into a full season with one of the best rosters we have had in YEARS and yet ppl still find something to be pissed about to the fact that every thread eventually turns into a shouting match.

I really could care less about Lin anymore. What happen happen now let's look at what we do have like Amar's dropping $100k to have Hakeem work with him for 2 weeks.

"He gets criticized for what he does, and thatís being an offensive machine. Iím tired of reading it. He doesnít play like LeBron James. He can pass, but heís a scorer. Heís an offensive force. Thatís what he does."

Ps. Crazy8 this is not an attack on your post just some built up frustration from reading around this site. I just don't see much purpose in pointing fingers and saying "Look, he's selfish!" What changes by guys on a forum saying it over and over. It starts in practice with trust and with an older roster respect will go around to each locker. Same affect Tyson had will be increased with guys like Kidd, Felton, Camby and Thomas.

Go USA
Go Knicks

I have been following this site since 06 and that is the best post I've seen so far. It's amazing how fans want the teammates to be unified when you have media bias influencing fair weather fans to believe there is always a problem with the team, especially in New York. From Patrick Ewing to Marbury to now Melo there's always am attack on the teams best player and I just don't understand how you can claim to root for a team but hope that individual fails

Melo is delusional. He really is. He must have a very fragile ego. He says it doesn't bother him but then why have an exclusive interview with Stephen A. Smith during Linsanity and then this interview months later? Hell, Lin fans are over Lin faster than Melo is.

The season needs to hurry up and start cause all this in the media and this forum is getting really repetitive. Non stop bias battles of Lin vs. Melo or Melo vs. Other NBA Stars or Melo vs. Stat even Melo vs. Barkley. Lol omg.

I've never in my 20ish years of fallowing sports have I seen hate for your team's best player like I do here (and on a good team at that). It's funny how fans in other cities always support their team with all their faults. No team is perfect, no player is perfect but while he is here he is ours and he isn't going anywhere soon. Get over it.

The response to this will prob be BUT MELO IS LAZY blah blah blah. If Melo is "lazy" then you're prob worthless. We are headed into a full season with one of the best rosters we have had in YEARS and yet ppl still find something to be pissed about to the fact that every thread eventually turns into a shouting match.

I really could care less about Lin anymore. What happen happen now let's look at what we do have like Amar's dropping $100k to have Hakeem work with him for 2 weeks.

"He gets criticized for what he does, and thatís being an offensive machine. Iím tired of reading it. He doesnít play like LeBron James. He can pass, but heís a scorer. Heís an offensive force. Thatís what he does."

Ps. Crazy8 this is not an attack on your post just some built up frustration from reading around this site. I just don't see much purpose in pointing fingers and saying "Look, he's selfish!" What changes by guys on a forum saying it over and over. It starts in practice with trust and with an older roster respect will go around to each locker. Same affect Tyson had will be increased with guys like Kidd, Felton, Camby and Thomas.

I have been following this site since 06 and that is the best post I've seen so far. It's amazing how fans want the teammates to be unified when you have media bias influencing fair weather fans to believe there is always a problem with the team, especially in New York. From Patrick Ewing to Marbury to now Melo there's always am attack on the teams best player and I just don't understand how you can claim to root for a team but hope that individual fails

Crazy I keep telling you stick to the game threads....Leave the hoops analysis to others....KO.COM continues to be the basketball bizarro world where D-league point guards that play 25 games are superstars and established superstars are fat, lazy, and selfish. What's really going on here????? I am a Cardinals fan and haven't lost a wink because Albert took the money and ran west. Not a wink. It's about the name on the front of the jersey, not the back. All you Lin fans are more than welcome to jump on Houston's bandwagon because they will need u

Well said MSGhobo247 and mrknickcarter. It's just too much envy, instigating, and phony butthurt fans. Perhaps these individuals are just bored and/or miserable with their own lives, I've never seen anything like it before. As for myself... I'm looking forward to a great year of Knicks BBall, not sure I can say the same thing for everyone here.

As a Melo stan I have to say hes a little selfish but at times i didnt blame him last year. He would try to make plays and at times do a great job of setting his teammates up only so they would miss their shots.

Some of the posters on here have dedicated their offseason to hating on Melo, thats just silly to spend that time and energy hating the player who is the face of our team. Are some of u guys on here Knicks fans or Melo haters?

I do think its funny how Carmelo took that little job at Amare, considering this was supposed to be Stat and Melo's team but since Amare fell off now its just Carmelo's team. But i almost forgot, according to most of u Carmelo is the reason why Amare is garbage now. Amare does not have to be responsible for himself anymore, he doesnt have to be a real man. Thats carmelo's job which he has failed at

This is what you call propaganda. Someone makes up a story out of nothing in order to get people interested and talking. Why can't Knicks fans be more interested in what happens on the court than how players personally feel about eachother off the court?

Crazy I keep telling you stick to the game threads....Leave the hoops analysis to others....KO.COM continues to be the basketball bizarro world where D-league point guards that play 25 games are superstars and established superstars are fat, lazy, and selfish. What's really going on here????? I am a Cardinals fan and haven't lost a wink because Albert took the money and ran west. Not a wink. It's about the name on the front of the jersey, not the back. All you Lin fans are more than welcome to jump on Houston's bandwagon because they will need u

That you couldn't wait to post. Fact is it's getting old now and looks like I am not the only one who is tired of it. Lin fans sounding like jilted lovers now

It's a relatively major piece of news related to the NYK, centered around our most famous player, involving the most controversial and unexpected NYK management decision in.....over a decade?

Give it a rest, Jim.

We know your (not-so inner) motives, dating back to your childhood of indoctrination.

Stop trying to silence discussion because you have sensitive ears.

If you don't like the discussion, use your noggin to create a thread of your own, which, if worthy, will receive people's attention.

Also, this wasn't some snippet of a soundbite, lol -- it's a major, complete public statement made by Anthony.

Which he prolly wouldn't'a made if it wasn't a legitimate topic, that didn't legitimately concerns the Knicks?

He also did more than take a little jab at Amare (right or wrong). That was a clean body shot.

Anyways, I think it's clear that Melo loves (needs?) this ongoing controversy and media limelight -- the same way Lebron once needed it, which led to his "Decision" and it's aftermath.

Also, while some people around here aren't legit NYK fans, the vast majority of Lin "supporters" care about the monumental ****ups surrounding him bc it effects the NYK. Negatively.

If anything, we have more anti-Lin fanatics and Melo fans (who care about that, above legit discussion and concern over the vitality and direction of our franchise); than we do people who love Lin above the NYK.